Western advisers also flowed in, but the neatly bound reports they produced after a few days in a luxury hotel did not do much good.
Those same tasks now await him, and some Western advisers are repelled by that notion.
Two years later, Russia (and its Western advisers) trumpeted the program's success as more than 100,000 enterprises were declared to be in private hands.
Western economic advisers can preach economic virtue, but cannot force companies to invest, consumers to save or governments to live within their means.
Western economic advisers are jubilant about Ukraine's embrace of radical reform.
Starting from scratch, and listening to Western advisers, the Poles adopted a remarkably smart program.
"It's been taken for granted in the West that China is a stable political place," said a Western adviser to foreign businesses.
These qualities may sometimes drive the Western advisers up the Kremlin walls.
Western advisers have consistently pushed for the creation of markets, free pricing and currency systems and an economy built on private enterprises.
In any energy discussion, Western advisers hoist the banner of energy saving.